


Heart. Spoon.

by JohnBurtonLee



Category: Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-22 16:46:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20877440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JohnBurtonLee/pseuds/JohnBurtonLee
Summary: Dreaming of Sunshine future fic. Shikako has returned to Konoha after two months as ambassador to Suna and meets up with some of her kunoichi friends.





	Heart. Spoon.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Silver_Queen_DoS](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silver_Queen_DoS/gifts).

"-carry our bags for us."

Shikako pinched the bridge of her nose as all the boys cleared out at chakra enhanced speeds. "How did that threat even work? They know I can just seal anything we buy."

Ino radiated smugness. "Genetic memory."

Sakura gave her a skeptical look. "That makes no sense. Shopping hasn't existed long enough on an evolutionary scale."

Ino waved off her objection. "Whatever, it worked. Let's get some snacks so we can have a girl's night in. Then we can get all the juicy details about how Kako completely crippled Suna's bureaucracy."

Shikako blinked. "I did what now?"

Hinata nodded. "Everyone was quite impressed. Quite the demonstration about what happens if you toy with the heart of a Konoha kunoichi."

"There was no toying! Gaara and I weren't going out! And how did that equate to crippling Suna's bureaucracy?"

Shikako hated the fact that she was used to pitying looks from her female friends whenever romance was brought up. Now Hinata of all people was speaking slowly as if Shikako was particularly slow. "Shikako, what is Gaara's attitude towards paperwork?"

"He rather enjoys it. It keeps Shukaku quiet out of sheer boredom."

"Sakura, how does Tsunade feel about the same subject?"

She rolled her eyes. "We all know she fights a daily battle against her urge to burn the entire tower down, and that the only thing that stops her is the belief that contingency still wouldn't get rid of it all."

Ino nodded. "So when you cut out Gaara's heart out with a spoon and poured quicklime on it, Suna went from having a productive Kazekage who did all the paperwork to suddenly having a vacuum of trained and cleared paperpushers."

Shikako tried to keep from clenching her teeth. "There was no heart spoon thing."

Ino patted Shikako on the back. "You know we love you just the way you are."

"I'm hearing a but."

"How do feel about Gaara's upcoming marriage?"

Shikako tilted her head at the change in subject. "I hope he'll be happy, but it's a shame that the Wind Daimyo is forcing him to get married. At least his future bride is both pretty and nice."

"Kami, she's serious," Tenten said, speaking up for the first time.

Hinata did her finger pushing thing, which Shikako would have sworn she had gotten over. "How often did you see the Kazekage when you were in Suna?"

Shikako thought for a moment. "Almost every day. Call it five or six times a week."

Ino seemed to pick up on Hinata's point. "And you had enough business to meet that often?"

"Well, no, but Gaara's my friend. We talked about some personal stuff."

Sakura put her hand to the side of her head like she had a headache. "And this was always in his office?"

Shikako shook her head emphatically. "No! He spent far too much time there. I hope his new wife makes him get some air every now and then, too. No we had a lot of walks at night and occasional dinners."

"And what kind of personal stuff did you talk about?" Ino said, as if she was going for the kill.

"Personal stuff! I'm not going into details but things like plans for the future or how I'd feel about having Temari and Kankuro for in-laws." Then Shikako muttered, "Though I didn't think Temari and Shika were that close."

Tenten laughed, while Sakura and Ino groaned. Even Hinata had a politely pained expression. Ino eventually recovered to say "Only you. Only you could date the Kazekage for two months and not even realize it."

It finally clicked. "So the daimyo made Gaara get engaged to Matsuri, because he thought that Gaara was getting too close to me." Nods from my friends. "And then I acted completely not hurt and sincerely denied any romantic interest, because I wasn't hurt and didn't have any romantic interest."

Sakura nodded. "And now the last official dispatch we've gotten from Suna has had things like 'love is an illusion' scrawled in the margins. You took the scenic route coming back, so we have plenty of panicked messages from Suna already."

Technically, it was less of a scenic route and more of a classified mission. "Um. Oops?"

Ino cackled. "Don't feel sorry. It just showed the world that a kunoichi scorned can bring down nations!"

Sakura muttered "Hyperbole," and bumped Ino's shoulder.

"Is that why Temari gave me a fist bump when I got recalled? She was rather annoyed with Gaara accepting the engagement… and gave me a ten out of ten for my congratulations." Shikako groaned. "I thought I was being a good friend."

"Sisters before misters," Ino got out between cackles. Shikako would like to blame this on lingering Orochimaru influence, but couldn't lie to herself that badly. This was pure Ino.

"The honesty is why it hurt so much," Hinata commented.

"How do I even apologize for something like this?"

Sakura snickered. "I think this is one of those times when trying to apologize would only make things worse."

"It's not funny! Gaara's a friend!"

Surprisingly, it was Hinata who got the serious look and took Shikako by the shoulder. "A friend that thought he was in a romantic relationship with you and agreed to marry someone else."

"Well, I can hardly be upset with the Kazekage for choosing his country over me, right?"

"Fine, we'll drop it." Ino tossed her hair back. "But just to let you know, your oblivious boy attraction tendencies are a lot easier to accept when you just as obliviously smack them down when they deserve it."

"I keep telling you that I don't have any oblivious boy attracting tendencies. All of you have just as many admirers as I do."

Ino glared at Shikako. "Yeah, but yours are all hotties. You even snagged Sasuke's attention."

"I did what now?"

"Shikako, you're my sister in all but blood, but I have no idea how the rest of the girls put up with you."

Tenten shrugged. "Was never interested in him."

Hinata raised a hand. "The same."

Sakura sighed. "I owe her too many favors."

"No, wait. Sasuke? He's like another brother. It'd be incest."

Sakura and Ino exchanged a look, and Ino sighed. "New plan. Snacks and alcohol."

Hinata gave Shikako a _ look_. "We should send Sasuke some sort of sympathy present. Maybe yellow tulips?"

Ino snickered. Tenten looked between Ino and Hinata. "I don't remember what yellow tulips mean."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Hopeless love. It's the friendzone flower."

Tenten shook her head. "C'mon, let's get drunk and maybe fill out the forms to get 'S class heartbreaker' added to Kako's bingo book entry."

"Hey!"

"That's 'S class oblivious heartbreaker,'" Hinata corrected primly.

"I hate all of you."

Sakura and Ino slung their arms over Shikako's shoulders. "We love you too."

**Author's Note:**

> To be fair to Gaara, in my head he didn't think they were dating, and knew that Shikako didn't feel that way, but did sort of fall in love anyways, which is why he went along with the Wind Daimyo's plan. It's just that being slapped in the face with the reality of her lack of interest was a bit more than he could take. And with the way his sister is carrying on, he's got that doubt that maybe Shikako really did have feelings and he ruined things.
> 
> As for Temari, she didn't think they were dating either until she saw Gaara's reaction to Shikako, then put two and two together and got squirrel. Ironically, it's a sign of how good their relationship is now that Temari feels no guilt or hesitation in making Gaara feel miserable about this. Female solidarity aside, having Shikako join their village through marriage would have been a very good thing, and it wouldn't be the first time the Wind Daimyo had made short sighted decisions that had negative effects on the future of Suna.


End file.
